Government forces used lethal and other excessive force against peaceful protesters who took to the streets in unprecedented numbers to demand political reform and the fall of the regime. The pattern and scale of state abuses may have constituted crimes against humanity.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights and Damascus Centre for Human Rights Studies have documented more than 317 violation points of Mr Annan’s Plan on 28-05-2012, including direct gunfire, artillery shelling, raids, and attacks on the peaceful civilians. As a result, many people were killed, others were wounded and many others were arrested.

The United Nations Security Council must move beyond condemnation of Friday’s attack that killed scores of civilians in the Syrian town of Houla and immediately refer the situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Amnesty International said.

(New York) – Kofi Annan should push Syria’s government to allow the UN-appointed Commission of Inquiry access into the country to investigate the May 25, 2012, killing of at least 108 Houla residents, Human Rights Watch said today ahead of an impending visit by the UN envoy to Damascus

The Syrian Network for Human Rights and Damascus Centre for Human Rights Studies have documented more than violation points of Mr Annan’s Plan on 27-05-2012, including direct gunfire, artillery shelling, raids, and attacks on the peaceful civilians. As a result, many people were killed, others were wounded and many others were arrested.